1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus designed for toddlers and, more particularly, to a toddler walker that provides assistance to the toddlers when learning to walk.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a toddler walker 9 disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. M397932. The toddler walker 9 includes a fork 91, a front wheel 92, two lateral arcuate boards 93, a rear wheel 94 and a seat 95. A handlebar 911 is arranged at one end of the fork 91 to provide the user with a safe grip placement for their hands when riding the toddler walker 9. The fork 91 includes two arms 912. The toddler walker 9 further includes two shafts 921 and 941. The front wheel 92 is rotatably coupled between the two arms 912 via the shaft 921. Each lateral arcuate board 93 includes a front end coupled with one face of the fork 91. The rear wheel 94 is rotatably coupled between rear ends of the two lateral arcuate boards 93 via the shaft 941. The seat 95 is located above the lateral arcuate boards 93 and arranged in approximately the center position of the entire length of the lateral arcuate boards 93. A toddler can sit on the seat 95, grip the handlebar 911 and position his/her feet on the ground. Based on this, the toddler can propel the front wheel 92 and the rear wheel 94 in a forward or backward direction by using a “walking motion”. The toddler walker 9 will start to move under the rotation of the front wheel 92 and the rear wheel 94.
However, the front wheel 92 or the rear wheel 94 may get stuck by foreign debris, such as a toy, a twig, a limb etc, due to the large space between each spoke. This causes the toddler walker 9 and the toddler to fall over from a sudden stop in momentum and results in an injury to the toddler. As an example of the front wheel 92, the front wheel 92 includes a wheel frame 922 and a tire 923 fitted around an outer periphery of the wheel frame 922. A hub 924 is arranged at a center of the wheel frame 922. A plurality of spokes 925 extends outwards from an outer peripheral face of the hub 924. The shaft 921 extends through the hub 924 to rotatably couple the front wheel 92 to the fork 91. In this structure, as stated above, the front wheel 92 will get stuck by foreign debris and stop rotating immediately when the foreign debris get stuck between the spokes 925, leading to the collapse of the toddler walker 9. Thus, the safety of the toddler walker 9 is inadequate.
In light of this, it is necessary to improve the conventional toddler walker 9.